Andrea Jaeger places flowers and a candle Saturday at a makeshift memorial near a firehouse that was used as a staging area for families after the mass shooting in Newtown. / Mario Tama, Getty Images

by Philip Tortora, The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press

by Philip Tortora, The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press

NEWTOWN - An overwhelming sense of sadness and shock gripped the Sandy Hook neighborhood of this Connecticut town Saturday, a day after the worst primary school shooting in United States history left 20 of its children dead.

Throughout the town, stoic faces and watery eyes told the story of its people, rattled to the core after a gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday. Among the dead were six school administrators, including the principal.

All along Riverside Road, the roadway that connects much of Sandy Hook, including the school, an eerie silence hovered over the area, while expressions of stunned disbelief were worn on the faces of all. Police officers. Firefighters. Residents. Journalists. Nobody was immune from the impact of the tragedy that had befallen them.

Brain Haag, who lives a block from the shooting scene, said, "It's insanity. Why would the shooter's mother have guns in her house if her son was troubled or disturbed?"

The gunman has been identified as Adam Lanza, and police believe he killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, before going on his murderous rampage at the Sandy Hook school, targeting mostly children below the age of 10.

Further down Riverside, a man who was walking and only identified himself as Steve, said he drove up from Greenwich to pay his respects to the town, even though he didn't know anybody who lived there. He was fighting back tears.

Closer to the school, Newtown search-and-rescue worker Michael McCarthy, a longtime town resident, expressed his concern for the police and fire personnel who had to enter the horrific scene. "My job is tough, but being at the fire station was nothing compared to what they had to deal with inside the school."

McCarthy was talking to a nearby homeowner who had described a surreal scene Friday when his driveway was occupied by a mobile crime lab.

Directly across the street from the school, which is behind the firehouse and pushed back a bit on tiny Dickinson Drive, media members from around the world had set up camp. This was in addition to the massive media presence at an athletic complex a quarter-mile away, where satellite trucks and other vehicles were asked to situate. In both locations, gazes of disbelief were evident on the faces of many who worked in the press. Many of them, particularly the reporters from this region, had never been asked to cover a story so devastating.

Further west along Riverside, shop owner Frank Pitrone kept his doors open, offering coffee and restroom use for anybody who needed a break. Pitrone, who owns Apex Glass & Aluminum Products Inc., has lived his entire life in Newtown. And never for a moment did he think anything like this could happen here.